1/8/2015

Foundation Design 1. Soil exploration

CE-352

Arghya Das
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Email: arghya@iitk.ac.in

Geophysical tests: (Seismic refraction method) Plate load test:
The seismic refraction method
depends on the fact that seismic
waves have different velocities in
different types of soil (or rock) and the
waves are refracted when they cross
the boundary between different types
of soil. The method enables the
general soil types and the approximate will be covered later!!!
depths to strata boundaries, or to
bedrock, to be determined.

d1 v2  v1
H1 
2 v2  v1

d2 v3  v2
H 2  0.85 H1 
2 v3  v2

Typical problems:

The observed SPT values for each 150 mm penetration in a deposit of fine silty
sand were 25, 23 and 26. The test was conducted in a borehole at a depth of 5
m from the ground surface where the water table was at a depth of 2.5 m from
the ground surface. The soil above the water table may be assumed to be fully
saturated. The average porosity n=40.2% and specific gravity may be taken as
2.65. Take hammer efficiency to be of 78% , 150 mm dia bore hole, 5m rod
length and loose sand liner.
a) Determine the corrected value of N after overburden correction.
Use the correction
. /
C N= Where po' is effective overburden pressure in kPa
b) Determine the peak friction angle Φ where Φ=0.36N+27.
c) If static cone penetration test (CPT) was also conducted on the same
Foundation  deposit, determine the probable value of qc where qc = 0.4N, qc in MPa.
analysis and 
design: Bowles

1
 1/8/2015

Typical problems: Typical problems:
Determine the soil strata from the CPT value given below. Use Douglas (1984)
classification chart. Assume reasonable value for soil effective unit weight.

Determine the area ratios for the following soil samplers and comment on the
nature of sample obtained in each of the samplers. Core cutter with 165 mm outer
diameter (OD) and 150 mm inner diameter (ID) at cutting edge.
a) Split barrel with 51 mm OD, 35 mm ID.
b) Shelby with 114 mm OD, 111 mm ID